MANCHESTER UNITED will almost be without an entire starting line-up of players when they face Bournemouth on Saturday.

Van Gaal has several long-term injured players, but hopes to be reinforced by Christmas

Defender Matteo Darmian has failed to recover from the hamstring injury that forced him out of United's Champions League defeat to Wolfsburg, while Chris Smalling played through a groin strain but will now miss the trip to the south coast.

The FA yesterday handed Bastian Schweinsteiger a three-match ban for his clash with Winston Reid last weekend, leaving Van Gaal with limited resources, at least for the time being.

"Schneiderlin is coming back that’s not a problem but we have a list of eight players injured and Rojo has been operated on this week and it takes a long time," Van Gaal told MUTV.